"It's a joke.........." Hering by leics

The name of this pretty villages derives from 'herr' (master)....something to do with servants working for the master (most probably the master who lived in Veste Otzberg, the castle above the village).

But someone at some time in the past found the potential pun amusing, so the village now has a herring (fish) in its coat of arms. Hoho.

But it really is a very pretty place, with brightly whitewashed church, well-tended houses and lovely gardens.

Castle toilet......see the stain on the stone?

Veste Otzberg, the castle, stands above the village on what was once a volcano and is now a basalt outcrop. It has superb views over the surrounding countryside.......a truly excellent place to build a stronghold!

A fishy pun.

As well as the castle (which has a truly excellent and very cheap cafe in its interesting museum) you can wander the village to find the Otzburg basalt columns. They are some of what is left of the truly ancient and very-long-extinct Otzburg volcano. The columns are hexagonal in form, just like the ones at the famous Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

• Pros:The castle and museum
• Cons:None that I came across
• In a nutshell:A fishy place....